GLEANINGS — July 6, A.D. 2014                                                                                                              What is Fellowship?

Some prefer solitude to keeping company. Others are "party animals." The latter likely have something to learn about the value of quietly knowing and searching one's heart, while the habitual loners will likely benefit from "getting out more." 
When Christians gather socially they usually call it fellowship. We have fellowship meals, times of fellowship, we visit in our homes for fellowship. These things are excellent, delightful, and Biblical. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"  (from Psalm 133)
But one verse of Scripture which well summarizes the meaning of Christian fellowship is given in the context of a man being in lonely exile! That man of course is the apostle John, who wrote these words from the bare, little Mediterranean rock to which he had been banished:

"I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Revelation 1:9)
Christian fellowship includes but involves much more than socializing. Our fellowship means that we are not only companions, but brothers. Like John, even when we are not physically in the same place we are partners with each other in all that there is in Christ. To have fellowship is to have common purposes and goals. It is gladly bearing one another's burdens. It is freely sharing our blessings and joys with our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
This fuller concept of what it means to be in fellowship can be seen more clearly if we consider a Biblical warning AGAINST a certain kind fellowship: "...the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons." (1 Corinthians 10:20)
Who would want to "hang out" with a demon? The ancient Corinthians needed no more urging against that pursuit than any other disciple does. The apostle was teaching them (and us) that by their participation in false religious practices, the neighbors of the Corinthian Christians were being partners in the goals and purposes of the kingdom of darkness. He did not want Christ's disciples to share in such a relationship. On the contrary, we are commanded to "...have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them." (Ephesians 5:11)

When Christians gather to worship or to labor in the proclamation of the Gospel of the kingdom, that is fellowship. When a congregation has a work day at their facility, or when one believer helps another with a household job, that is fellowship. When we picnic and play, that is delightful fellowship. And when I truly rejoice in how God has blessed my brother (perhaps in a way He has not blessed me), that is fellowship. And when you own your sister's sorrow and weep with her, that is fellowship. And when we are serving King Jesus in the power of the Spirit for the glory of God, alone on a desert island or in a thronging crowd, that is fellowship.

"...if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have FELLOWSHIP with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)